Day 28, Astorga to Rabanal

Today we left Astorga with few regrets - it felt like one of the least welcoming towns we’ve stayed at. The countryside became much more appealing - softer, greener and hillier - almost as soon as we left town. Today’s 20km walk was steadily uphill but the incline was so gradual that the ascent felt miraculously easy.
We stopped for coffee at a little village called Santa Caterina which, with its geranium boxes and roses, would not have been out of place in the south of France. Outside the village I was intrigued by the ruins of old cottages - something we haven’t seen this before. Fiona was quite taken with some of the buildings for sale.
During the mentally idle hours of walking I found myself thinking about the saying ‘taking the rough with the smooth’ and considering its literal meaning as I navigated some fairly stony paths with my new blisters (yes, I now have two new arrivals). I also remembered that when I was a student, Peter Campbell, the father of my good friend, Jane, said some of his happiest moments were spent marching during national service. It made absolutely no sense to me then but 40 years later I think I get it. The simplicity of repeatedly putting one foot in front of another seems to make me happy too.
Today’s stop is at Rabanal at a donotivo hostel run by the Confraterity of St James which is based in London. The volunteers are English and provided tea and lemon drizzle cake in the garden this afternoon. I have thought about volunteering here myself another year. The village is very pretty and feels quite English. This evening we heard Gregorian chant at vespers at the simpler of tiny Rabanal’s two churches. It was led by two Benedictine monks - we were told the lead chanter had been called away because of an emergency but the monks who remained did pretty well as far as I could tell.
Dinner was with Anna from Canada, Brad from Louisiana, Ramona from Germany and Lyn from the Netherlands. Not a brilliant meal but nice company and a lovely end to a lovely day.Read more